


more than i hoped

by yeswayappianway



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 07:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13782696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeswayappianway/pseuds/yeswayappianway
Summary: (805): so.. he paid for my flight to vegas, took me to shows, bought my drinks and STILL rescued my drunk ass after i ditched him. i HAD to cuddle with him this morning.. fair exchange, right?!-texts from last night





	more than i hoped

**Author's Note:**

> i saw that Text From Last Night and decided it was too good to pass up (https://twitter.com/TFLN/status/966885580725350400)
> 
> this wasn't betaed at all, so apologies for any mistakes (and feel free to let me know if you catch a typo)
> 
> title from The Longest Time, by Billy Joel

“You did _what_?” Ryan’s voice is sharp, even over the shitty phone connection. Alex pulls it away from his face, and looks up at the doorway nervously.

“Shut up, be quiet,” he hisses. “I told you, Bill hasn’t gotten his apartment all set up, so he only has one bed. We shared, it was no big deal.”

There’s silence for a few seconds. “Yeah, no big deal to wake up cuddling your ex-boyfriend after he treated you to a night out on the town in Vegas, and he offered to let you share his bed. Seriously, Alex, how do you not get the problem here?” Alex wishes absently that he could go back to when he thought Ryan was kind of a pushover. Still, Ryan’s trying to be a good friend, and it would be very nice if it weren’t so annoying.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll just ask what’s going on when he gets back-” Alex is interrupted by Ryan nearly yelling.

“You’re still there? Alex, what the fuck!”

Rolling his eyes, Alex explains patiently, “I wasn’t going to not sleep in- it’s the all star break, I’m gonna enjoy my sleep. But yes, of course I’m still at Bill’s, where else would I go? That’s why I was telling you to be quiet.”

Ryan sighs very heavily. “I can’t believe you, Wenny, you almost deserve whatever happens. But like, I guess I still have to deal with you when you come back, because don’t you dare abandon us for fucking Vegas, so: please, please, _please_ actually talk to Bill and ask what he means by this."

“Of course I’m not going to abandon the team for Vegas, fuck you, Ryan. Anyway, I’ll talk to him or whatever, thanks for answering my text, okay, bye,” Alex whispers hurriedly and hangs up as Bill appears in the doorway. He pauses, looking unsure, and suddenly Alex’s usual light mood is gone, replaced with a heavy feeling in his stomach.

“Good morning,” Alex says cheerily, hoping maybe if he just ignores the awkwardness, it will go away. He can’t say he’s ever had a terrible morning after, and it would suck if he had one now, when he didn’t even get- well. He’d say anything, but seeing Bill had been honestly better than he ever expected. They’d just gotten dinner after the Jackets played in Vegas, and somehow Alex had missed him even more afterwards. It made it so, so easy to say yes when Bill called and asked if he wanted to spend some of the break in Vegas with him. Now, sitting in Bill’s bed with Bill staring at him from across the room, Alex doesn’t know what to do.

“Morning,” Bill answers, very quietly. He doesn’t move at all, just stands in the doorway as if he was frozen there. The heavy feeling in Alex’s stomach has only gotten more overwhelming, and he can’t handle this any longer. 

“What am I doing here, Will?” he asks, looking down at where the covers are pooled around his legs. It’s the same comforter that Bill had at his old apartment in Columbus, but the sheets are new. Bill hasn’t answered yet, and Alex feels like maybe this is all a metaphor somehow. He’s not sure how, but the more he looks down at the familiar pattern, the worse he feels.

“I don’t know, Wenny, I think maybe you need to answer that.” Bill’s still very quiet, and he’s not making eye contact either.

“Me? You’re the one who invited me here, you’re the one who bailed me out at the club last night, you’re the one who said I could share your bed, so I don’t know, William, I don’t think I do need to answer that.” Oh. Huh. Alex hasn’t realized how angry he is until just now, and distantly, he knows that this has been coming for a long time.

Bill physically flinches when Alex says his name, and he backs up ever so slightly. “Alex, I… I don’t know what you want. You broke up with me, and you kept talking about how much fun I’d have here, and how you wanted me to be able to start again. What was I supposed to think?”

Alex doesn’t know what to say because he still doesn’t know what Bill is thinking. That had been one of the worst parts of this season for Alex. Sure, they texted, sent useless emojis and complained about coaches, but he doesn’t know the last time he really talked to Bill before this past week. All he has to go on is the wild career year Bill’s having, and his own disappointing one, and the fact that Bill still hadn’t wanted to talk to him.

“I just… I didn’t want you to hate me. Because I got to stay and you had to leave and I didn’t want to mess up your chance for a new team from across the country, because it already sucked enough that you were gonna be gone.” Alex thought he knew all of Bill’s expressions, but this is new. Alex thinks of all the ways he’s no longer part of Bill’s life, and he doesn’t know that he can fix it. He stands up, and Bill, finally, finally moves toward him.

“No, Alex, please- please don’t leave.” Bill takes a deep breath, and walks, slower now, over to Alex. He looks him in the eye, and Alex takes a breath involuntarily. God, he’s missed Bill.

There’s a moment when they just stand there, looking at each other, and then Bill brings his hand up to rest on Alex’s chest.

“I thought you wanted to get rid of me,” Bill admits, and Alex wants to explain how wrong he is, but he keeps going. “I always figured you’d move on, and it was convenient. And then- we’re doing so well, I’m playing amazingly, and you’re-”

“Not?” Alex offers, not sure whether to be offended. Bill just shrugs, and nods.

“I figured, oh, he doesn’t want to hear from me now, but then you were here and I realized how much I’d missed you and I just… I didn’t want it to end. Maybe I should have thought it through more. At all.” Bill laughs a little, and Alex really loves him. “I really don’t have a guest bed. I don’t really have my shit together here outside the rink. I mean the guys are great, I really love them, but…”

The heavy feeling in Alex’s stomach has somehow inverted itself, a lightness moving up through his chest to his head. “But none of them are me.”

Bill rolls his eyes. “You’re so modest, too.” Alex laughs, and sits down on the bed abruptly.

“Will, I told you, I had no idea what you were thinking, but if I’d known that- I’ve missed you all season. I just wanted to talk to you.” Suddenly sure, he reaches out and takes Bill’s hand. “Can I take you out on a date? Since we’re both here and I probably owe you after last night.”

“You were really messy last night, yeah,” Despite Bill’s teasing, he’s holding Alex’s hand like someone’s going to try and take it away from him.

Alex shrugs, unconcerned. “It’s Vegas, that’s how it goes, right? Plus I looked good.” A thought occurs to him and he looks excitedly up at Bill. “Speaking of that, do you wanna take a picture?” Bill must have realized what he was going for, because he started shaking his head as soon as Alex said anything. He lays down dramatically on the bed next to Alex.

“I can’t believe I took you out in Vegas last night and you just want to use me for pictures,” Bill moans, and then cracks up when Alex elbows him in the side. He’s still laughing when Alex rolls over and leans down to kiss him gently. When he pulls away, Alex probably has a stupid sappy look on his face, but he’s not thinking about it (much, anyway). Seeing Bill again, knowing there will be more of this to come, he feels like he could do anything.

Bill looks like he might want to give up on going out and stay in bed all day, but then he looks over at the pillow Alex had been sleeping on. “Is someone calling you?”

Groaning, Alex flops back on to the bed. “It’s Ryan, he’s probably afraid that you’re breaking my heart and I won’t even realize it, and he’ll have to actually deal with feelings that aren’t related to hockey.”

His eyes are closed, so Alex doesn’t realize Bill has opened his phone until he hears, “Oh my god, Alex, you actually texted Ryan this morning?”

“Wait, you still know my password?” Alex sits up. Bill ignores him in favor of opening the camera.

“Come on, let’s get a good picture to send to the guys. Wouldn’t want to make you look bad after all.”

_to: cbj group chat_

_[A picture of Alex and Bill, curled up in bed, cover pulled up around both of them. They’re smiling, Bill looking at the camera, and Alex looking at Bill, actually grinning. The lighting isn’t great, but everything is warm colored.]_

_see back to normal already_

**Author's Note:**

> alex and bill are just sappy and dramatic and i need about several thousand more words of post expansion draft angst pls
> 
> come talk to me on twitter at steelinstories or tumblr at topcopbobrovsky


End file.
